Senate President Mike Miller, Speaker of the House Michael Busch, and members of the Senate and House Democratic Caucuses held a press conference Friday morning announcing a package of legislation to combat the heroin and opioid crisis in Maryland.
The package includes two omnibus bills: the Heroin and Opioid Prevention Effort (HOPE) and Treatment Act of 2017 (HB 1329 /SB 967) and the Heroin and Opioid Education and Community Action Act of 2017 (Start Talking Maryland Act) (HB 1082 /SB 1060). MACo supported Start Talking Maryland Act and supported the HOPE act with amendments.
Work groups in the House and Senate have been working all session to refine these bills. Legislators at the press conference confirmed that the bills will be passed out of committee on Monday.
Advocates and members of the public joined the legislators in expressing the impact the epidemic has had in Maryland and the need for the bills to address those issues.
